Vijayanagar Empire (The Great Calamity)
Following global nuclear war in the 21st century, a dark age descended upon the globe. The entire Indian nation fell apart within weeks of the nuclear exchange with most of the Northwest completely irradiated by Pakistan. Largely spared from the nuclear exchange (though major cities were hit), the states of Southern India were suddenly faced with a surge of radioactive immigrants. In a fit of panicked and xenophobic fervour, ethnic lines returned to the forefront of the Indian imagination and the states went their separate ways, forming independent nations based on their traditional cultural and linguistic history. Even as the streets descended into daily violence and technological prowess rapidly degenerated (much like the rest of the world), the various skeleton governments in the South were setting up border control systems to stem the influx of immigrants, with the nations of Maharashtra and Telangana going so far as to shoot on fleeing refugees, quickly turning them back to the nuclear wastelands of the North. The worst of humanity emerged. Further Background Kingdoms and Republics After nearly a century of constant violence and the de-evolution of technology and society (though governments largely retained their technological mastery, even as the general populace struggled to maintain a constant supply of electricity to their homes), 3 kingdoms had formed (Maharashtra Kingdom, Kingdom of Andhra Pradesh, and the Kingdom of Kerala; the latter of which had absorbed Tamil Nadu through a marriage union) based off the strictly hierarchical traditional Indian caste system, with the return of noble rule, though the annals of history are vague as to their records of how the first nobles returned to power amidst turbulent circumstances. Either way, the newly formed kingdoms had established themselves as the dominant powers of South India following the post-war dark age. During this time, a handful of other states formed in the region as well. The former states of Karnataka and Telangana briefly fell apart into multiple self-governing city states, some ruled by noble families, some by despots, and others by more progressive councils and parliaments. Much of former Karnataka then united under the Confederation of Karnataka, a confederation ruled by a Presidency that served a single 2-year term. The President was the head of state of one of the member city-states with the position rotating between city-states every term. Telangana remained largely poverty and strife-stricken as a landlocked region of warring city-states. Newly returning jungle diseases exacerbated the situation. The states of Odisha and Chhattisgarh fought a brief but serious conflict with both sides attempting to unify their nations. The war ended with peace treaty and the agreement to form two new nations, one in the North (Republic of Raipur Pradesh) and one in the South (Kingdom of Odisha) with a traditionalist Hindu majority. The new nations each had access to the ocean, one of the main aims that Chhattisgarh had in starting the war in the first place. The remainder of the Northwest and Central North was (and still is) nuclear wasteland and/or inhabited by warring chieftains and warlords. India's largely Muslim Northeast became, for the most part, nomadic, launching regular raids on the Southern nations. An exception, West Bengal became an independent republic ruled by a small council of merchant families and is famous for its yellow-flagged merchant fleet, one of the most technologically advanced fleets in the world functioning largely on imported oil - a rare commodity in the post-globalist world. The former state of Gujarat, one of the few Northern states to be spared from the nuclear exchange, became a renowned banking and trade centre frequented by merchants across the Indian Ocean. As of that point in time, not much was known outside of the Indian Ocean with few explorers returning from journeys West of the Horn of Africa and even fewer from Pakistan and the apparently pirate-infested waters of Southeast Asia. Vijayanagar Conquest Age of Empire Empire Today (During The Renewal) Category:India Category:The Great Calamity Category:Nations